Record construction of 534 km of national highways in one week: Govt

The road ministry on Sunday said that a record 534 km of national highways was constructed in one week, beginning January 8, 2020.

In a statement, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said that it has "created a record by constructing 534 km of National Highways (NHs) in the last week commencing 8 January".

The ministry has constructed 8,169 km of NHs from April 2020 to January 15, 2021 in the current financial year 2020-21, i.e. with a speed of about 28.16 km per day.

During the same period in the last fiscal, 7,573 km roads were constructed, with a speed of 26.11 km per day.

The ministry is hopeful that with such pace it should be able to cross construction target of 11,000 km by March 31.

The road ministry also awarded NH projects of 7,597 km during this period (April 2020 to January 15, 2021). In 2019-20, projects of 3,474 km were awarded during the same period. Thus, the pace of award has also more than doubled this fiscal.

In total, projects of 8,948 km of roads were awarded in 2019-20 while 10,237 km of roads were constructed.

The achievement assumes significance given the fact that the first two months of the current fiscal were lost due to nationwide lockdown in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.

The ministry has taken several initiatives to increase the pace of construction. The pace of construction is expected to increase further in the remaining months of the current financial year, which are conducive for construction activities.